Super Special at APRC Johor 2011

After a long 4 months break, we're back again & this time around we have a new weapon. We're competing in a Neo Mivec fully prepared by MRU Motorsport. Modification includes close ratio box with 1-way LSD & Drummonds suspension, both flown in from Aussie, and many more.

This is my second time driving the car, the first being sending the car to scrutineering as I needed to get acquainted with the car, the seating position & the controls, the gear ratio, suspension behavior (though tarmac & gravel is hell different) and the much smaller brakes (I've been using Alcon all this while).

We took this first drive as a shakedown & were very surprised of how comfortable (says OBK) and easy this car is to drive compared to the older Satria.

Last but not least, we would like to thank everyone who have made this possible, especially MRU Motorsports, Q8, Torco, Recharge drink, Alpinestars, WSM and many-many individuals who have supported us.

So here goes our onboard video for the super special stage @ APRC/MRC Round 1, Angsana Complex Johor.

Relax, sit back & enjoy

The Legendary Rally Machine: Nissan 240RS

I'm always fascinated by rally machines. To me, they are one of the toughest road going machines in the world.. Just look at how the cars withstand the constant huge jump of Rally Finland, and how they constantly protect the drivers from massive crashes.. it gives me the feeling that rally cars are invincible.. It'll be my preferred means of transport, in the event of zombie outbreak..lol..

Being a huge rally fan, i am hoping that one day i'll be able to see classic rally cars like Lancia Delta Integrale, or Lancia Stratoses on the road, or better still, in a rally.. It never cross my mind that one day, i'll be able to see a legendary rally car, which is even rarer than the 2 cars that i mentioned earlier.. To put it into perspective, there are about 492 units of Stratos produced by Lancia; the car that i saw has only 200 units produced and it's said that there are less than 20 units known left in the world. The car in question is non other than Nissan 240RS


Steve Irwin: "What a beau-ty!"

I stumbled upon this beauty at MRU motorsports about 2 months ago. It belongs to veteran Malaysian Rally driver, Mr Chew Tee Wong. Mr Chew had sent this beautiful piece of machinery to MRU motorsports workshop for maintenance checks and fixes. He was preparing this car for the Berjaya Hill climb, which was held on 30th October 2010. Mr Chew isn't the first owner of the car, no. He bought the car from another veteran rally driver who got this car from Tan Chong (Malaysia's official Nissan car distributor) as a token of appreciation for his achievement rallying for Nissan. Nope, this car is not a replica converted from S110, it is actually a Group B works car from Nissan. There are only 2-3 units brought in to Malaysia, and i would believe that this is the only one left here.


Look at 'em mean arches, i reckon it can store KGs of gravel in SS

The Nissan 240RS was initially created by Nissan in 1982 to compete in Group B of the World Rally Championship. 200 units were produced by Nissan for the FIA Group B homologation. The 240RS is based on the Silvia body, equipped with an FJ24-type 2.4L DOHC straight-4 sporting a custom cylinder block and crankshaft. Various body parts were reinforced: the bonet, boot lid, over-arches and more were all made with fibreglass-reinforced plastic and all windows except the front were exchanged with polycarbonate, lowering the weight to 100kg under that of the stock Silvia RS. Output was nearly doubled to 237 bhp. (Facts are borrowed from Gran Turismo GT)


Boxy looking ass.. spank it and u'll suffer the consequences

However, Nissan's bid for the 240RS to be competitive in Group B WRC is not a story of success. In the 1983 Safari Rally, Nissan's work team entered the 240RS Group B, aiming to win four championships, only to find that it was dampen by engine troubles. Moreover rival machines were all evolution models. Nissan eventually managed to create an evolution model for 240RS, but it was too late. Group B has moved on to 4wd turbo monsters.

Despite all that, the 240RS has its taste of victory as well. It finished 2nd in the 1983 New Zealand Rally.


The 240RS in its WRC glory

I'll let the pictures do the talking now. Enjoy the shots taken using our camera phone.. If time allows it, we'll post videos of us cranking the engine as well.. ;) Until then, please enjoy the pictures..


..Look at all the old skool meters..

..Simple, nice, and purposeful..

..the fuel cell is located inside the boot compartment rather than undercarriage..
..the fuel system uses anti-slosh foam instead of a surge tank..

..check out the reinforced rear axle..designed to take on the harsh rally environment..

..the powerplant is running on dry sump system..

MRC 2010 Round 3 Terengganu - Tasik Kenyir Super Special Stage

Here's our onboard video for the tarmac super special stage @ MRC Round 3, Tasik Kenyir.
Sit back and enjoy the video!

DIY: SOL visor installation

So recently, team D24 upgraded themselves from rental kart to another type of rental kart, I mean from 80cc to 100cc karts. It's not really a big leap considering ONLY 20cc difference but that's actually 25% increment of engine displacement on basically a same chassis & same weight. That is something I tell you.

That's not my point really. My point is that I've been using either helmet from the kart operator and other times I would bring my own Spongebob which is an open face.... as if you can't tell from the picture.

There's nothing wrong when you look at it. The problem comes when you floor the throttle while going down the main straight of City Kart Shah Alam going at approx 70-80kph. At this speed, there's like a small turbulence going on behind the helmet visor. At long duration, the wind effect really dries up my eye & later it makes me cry ....literally. I would find myself wiping tear drops like I've just pulled out a perfect drift.

So I told myself, I need to buy a full face for future session. And later I asked myself, why buy when I've already got my rally helmet?! And this is where this blog entry would start LOL

Materials that you need:

1) SOL off road helmet

2) Visor of choice; mine is HYBRID-37X FACE SHIELD CLEAR IRIDIUM RECOMMENDED PRICE RM60 ....direct copy from packaging, pretty long name

3) 40 cents ... LOL

Step 1: Screw them screw

Ok, now you should use 20 cents to unscrew that screw. What about the balance of 20 cents you asked? Use it on the other side :P

Step 2; Lift 'em up

Simply lift up the dirt shade like so

Step 3: Release the release

You'll need to push the release downward & lift up the dirt shade at the same time.

Step 4: Be gentle

Once both sides are off the latch, just pull out the dirt shade from the pivot gently

Step 5: Do it backward

Repeat the steps above in reverse & opposite ....ok, I know you're lazy to read them backward ....but so am I LOL

Once both sides are on the latch, just push in the visor into the pivot gently

You don't need to push the release downward & lift up the dirt shade at the same time.

Simply push down the visor like so

Keep your 40 cents

Camwhore

I'll give feedback to you guys later on how this visor should help me concentrate on attacking the course again. Nah, I'm just kidding, with this cool look, I'm not bothered about that anymore. BTW, on the left is OBK's helmet with Paddle Pop finish.

Thanks SOL for the awesome looking visors (and helmets)!

DIY: Pacenotes

"Pacenotes.. ahh.. what a boring subject..i mean, who cares bout pacenotes right? It's just some random bits of scribble which the co-driver used to nag the driver while the driver's doing the hard work of driving.."

WRONG!!

The fact is, pacenotes is one of the most important part in rallying. Look at 6 times WRC world champion Sebastien Loeb for example, his notes is so detail, he can practically drive with his eyes closed! Having good pacenotes enables the driver to push more confidently in the Special Stages (SS)..

For today's post, i'm not going to talk about pacenotes, but rather, how to DIY your own pacenote book.. While it might not directly affect the driver's performance in the rally, having a proper pacenote book will help in making your rally experience easier..

Step 1: Gather the materials

- A4 size paper (100gsm at least.. makes flipping easier..)
- 2 thick A4 size card board (makes a good base for your pacenotes.. else the notes will seem flimsy..)
- Garden wire
- Wire cutter
- Broom stick
- Spray paint

Step 2: Prepare the notes and cover

- Since i'm a junior in pacenote writing, i've devised a template for each sheet.. it makes my life easier coz it help me organize the space on each page better.. it makes my notes neater too.. Besides that, at the top of each page, there are columns for Stage information such as Special Stage (SS) name, SS length, as well as page number/total of pages. It is important to note the page count so that you won't mixed the pages by accident.
- To get the template on the paper, i used a photocopier.. coz it's much cheaper and much faster.. (plus there's a copier in my company.. hehe.. i hope no one from my company reads this..)
- After preparing the templates, it's time to send the notes and the hard cover for binding.. if you have access to round shaped binding machine, then it'll be great.. else like me, you can bind it using the normal square binding.. (also available in my company.. kekekeke.. )

Step 3: Making spring

- The technique that we'll using for the binding is coil binding. The reason why this type of binding is chosen is because it has the ability to open flat on a desk and offer 360 degree rotation for easy note taking and flipping.
- The spring/coil making part is the toughest part of all.. the reason is simple: first you need to get wire with proper thickness for this; 2ndly, you need to estimate the length of the wire to use.. it depends on the size of the ring and the number of binding holes you have; 3rdly, it's very hard to judge the distance between 2 holes.. in my case, what i did was to roughly estimate the length, and the distance between the holes.. then after it's done, i'll adjust it according during the test fitting session.. :D..
- To summarize the whole process in 4 steps, you need to:
#1, Cut the wire accordingly.
#2, Roll it on a broom stick with a rough estimate on the gap.
#3, Test fit the spring with the prepared notes, and adjust accordingly
#4, Cut off excessive wire..
- Size of wire? Hot co-driver Christy Goh recommended bigger rings to make flipping easier, and thicker wire so that it won't go out of shape during SS.. i find her advise very useful.. :D

Step 4: Test fitting

- Test fitting is simple.. All you need to do is the spin the spring through the binding holes on your notes.. The spinning direction is either clockwise or counter clockwise depending on the direction of your spring.. But one advice though, please make sure to align your notes properly before binding to make it easier..

Step 5: Spray the momma

- But before you spray the momma, you need to sand-paper the sharp edge.. this is to prevent the razor sharp edge from cutting and hurting you..
- After the sharp edge is smoothed, you can start spraying the spring with your favorite color.. This is to keep the spring from getting rusty after being exposed to the harsh rally condition..

Step 6: Assemble the parts

- Putting everything together: the hard cover, the notes, the spring, to make sure that it fits and flips properly..

Step 7: Zhng your pacenotes with stickers

- Just for the extra ego boost..

The benefits of this pacenotes DIY:
- Being able to arrange the notes after recce.. By doing so you can group notes for consecutive SS together in one book..
- Note: Remember to wrap the edge of the wire with tapes.. This is important to keep the sharp edge from hurting you during the stages..

Well, that's all folks.. enjoy your DIY and Zhng-ed pacenotes..